Even Tom Brady Would Give This Post a Hand *rim shot* Heyyooo
After the regular season ended there was a head coaching apocalypse, Lions, Titans, Bears, Giants, Cardinals, Colts, Raiders. (And somehow NOT the Browns or Bengals) Since then Chicago hired Matt Nagy, an Andy Reid follower, and Oakland hired Jon Gruden. In 2008 this would have been a splash hire but... he has been out of head coaching game for awhile. And, just yesterday the Titans hired the, now former, Texans defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel. Here is the quick DL on Vrabel. He was drafted by the Steelers, played for the Patriots for a long time and tallied up THREE Super Bowl wins, and then ended his career with KC. After his playing days he jumped right into coaching and now he is one of those rare player-coach... coaches. I hope the best for him. NOW, who is left? Well, it's not a head coaching position but, the Browns are looking a new OC and former GMen head coach, Ben McAdoo, is the leading candidate. That is a ROUGH drop on the coaching scale.
Lions, is eyeing down Pats DC Matt Patricia. Happy to see a D3 guy make this kind of a leap! He played at RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and then coached there. Then jumped from Amherst to Syracuse and ended up in New England in 2004. I think it's time for him to captain his own ship and the Lions are a solid place to start. But, due to NFL guidelines he can't be given the job or even interviewed until his season as come to an end.
Colts are looking at the Patriots staff as well, this time it's OC Josh McDaniels. Many remember his quick stint as the Broncos head coach WITH the one and only Tim Tebow at QB. Yes, they won a playoff game with him! I think that years on the Patriots staff and learning from his past mistakes AND having Andrew Luck all work in his favor.
Giants have to wait for the head coaching choice as well, Vikings OC Pat Shurmur. He has STRONG NFL roots after being in the league since 1999, when he started with the Eagles (another Andy Reid guy.) And, he has actual head coaching experience. Sadly, it was with the lowly Browns where he posted a 10-23 record. *YIKES* Recently, he has done wonders with THREE different QBs in Minnesota and should be a good match with Eli Manning (and whoever he drafts as his replacement.)
Cardinals are a bit of a wildcard in this situation with no real clear front runner. Reports have them looking at either Panthers DC Steve Wilkins, Steelers Offensive Line coach Mike Manchak (and former Titans HC) and Kieth Armstrong Falcons Special Teams coach. That's a Yahtzee shaker of whatever for sure.
Aztecs are a new expansion team in New Mexico. Right now they are looking to pick off former Miami Sharks head coach, Tony D'Amato. The Sharks are coming off a rough loss to San Francisco and management was more than happy to dump the former Pantheon Cup champion. On top of it New Mexico is looking to sign the former Sharks QB as well, Willie Beamen.
Jaguars (10-6) at Patriots [-7.5] (13-3) 3:05pm CBS- I am going to have a tally sheet of how many times Tom Brady's "hand issue" comes up. It's a classic New England smoke screen and no one does it better. Was there an injury? Yes. Is it a big deal? Probably not. Did the Pats use it as leverage to throw off scouts, media coverage and Vegas odds? YOU F*&%ING BET THEY DID! I am really looking forward to both games. And I am not going to talk about Brady vs. Bortles because that is stupid. I've never understood that kind of commentary. Bortles isn't playing corner and Brady for sure isn't a middle linebacker. BUT, we can talk about DB Janlen Ramsey on Pats TE Rob Gronkowski. These are two huge gladiators that were built to play against each other with amazing athletic ability and size. My edge in this goes to injury. Gronk is 78% scar tissue and his blood is 99% cortisone. A few shots from Ramsey and some roughing up at the line of scrimmage may take Brady's favorite target out. The other match up are Pats left tackle, Nate Solder and right tackle Cameron Fleming (who stepped in for Marcus Cannon when he went on IR) against Calais Campbell and Yannick Ngakoue. Look for the Patriots to use extra tight end sets and keep the running backs in the back field on passing downs. These guys get after the QB and no lone lineman has been able to keep these guys off their quarterback.
Jaguars- 24 Patriots- 22
Vikings [-3] (13-3) at Eagles (13-3) 6:40pm <- why? FOX- These are two teams I felt comfortable picking during the preseason. Though! I wouldn't have guessed these teams would be QB'ed by Case Keenum and Nick Foles. If you didn't know, they both ejected out of St. Louis. What is interesting is the Vikings are three point favorites going into Philly but, ESPN's Power Football Index picks the Eagles to win at 59.1%. Hmmm... I think it's interesting that week in and week out everyone continues to put down Keenum. He was the THIRD QB on the roster and has done nothing but sling the rock and win games. He is in a rhythm with this receivers and Pat Shurmur's play calling. Meanwhile, Foles has thrown 5TD as a starter... FOUR of which came against the down and out GMen. When stacked against Falcons, a mid tier defense, he froze up. For the Eagles to compete in this game they will need to put up some points, 15 won't cut it. Especially, because they are playing against a solid Minnesota air attack AND the best defense in the NFL. Philly will have a hard time leaning on Jay Ajayi as well. Why? Last week I watched him not follow his blockers and spill all his inside runs out. Which, the Falcons did a good job of containing and the Vikings will do the same as well. What about LeGarrette Blount? Sure he is a stud on third and short but, is not an every down back. I think we know were this is going...
Vikings-27 Eagles-17
AAaaaand that's the wayyyy the news goes!
Lions, is eyeing down Pats DC Matt Patricia. Happy to see a D3 guy make this kind of a leap! He played at RPI (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and then coached there. Then jumped from Amherst to Syracuse and ended up in New England in 2004. I think it's time for him to captain his own ship and the Lions are a solid place to start. But, due to NFL guidelines he can't be given the job or even interviewed until his season as come to an end.
Colts are looking at the Patriots staff as well, this time it's OC Josh McDaniels. Many remember his quick stint as the Broncos head coach WITH the one and only Tim Tebow at QB. Yes, they won a playoff game with him! I think that years on the Patriots staff and learning from his past mistakes AND having Andrew Luck all work in his favor.
Giants have to wait for the head coaching choice as well, Vikings OC Pat Shurmur. He has STRONG NFL roots after being in the league since 1999, when he started with the Eagles (another Andy Reid guy.) And, he has actual head coaching experience. Sadly, it was with the lowly Browns where he posted a 10-23 record. *YIKES* Recently, he has done wonders with THREE different QBs in Minnesota and should be a good match with Eli Manning (and whoever he drafts as his replacement.)
Cardinals are a bit of a wildcard in this situation with no real clear front runner. Reports have them looking at either Panthers DC Steve Wilkins, Steelers Offensive Line coach Mike Manchak (and former Titans HC) and Kieth Armstrong Falcons Special Teams coach. That's a Yahtzee shaker of whatever for sure.
Aztecs are a new expansion team in New Mexico. Right now they are looking to pick off former Miami Sharks head coach, Tony D'Amato. The Sharks are coming off a rough loss to San Francisco and management was more than happy to dump the former Pantheon Cup champion. On top of it New Mexico is looking to sign the former Sharks QB as well, Willie Beamen.
Jaguars (10-6) at Patriots [-7.5] (13-3) 3:05pm CBS- I am going to have a tally sheet of how many times Tom Brady's "hand issue" comes up. It's a classic New England smoke screen and no one does it better. Was there an injury? Yes. Is it a big deal? Probably not. Did the Pats use it as leverage to throw off scouts, media coverage and Vegas odds? YOU F*&%ING BET THEY DID! I am really looking forward to both games. And I am not going to talk about Brady vs. Bortles because that is stupid. I've never understood that kind of commentary. Bortles isn't playing corner and Brady for sure isn't a middle linebacker. BUT, we can talk about DB Janlen Ramsey on Pats TE Rob Gronkowski. These are two huge gladiators that were built to play against each other with amazing athletic ability and size. My edge in this goes to injury. Gronk is 78% scar tissue and his blood is 99% cortisone. A few shots from Ramsey and some roughing up at the line of scrimmage may take Brady's favorite target out. The other match up are Pats left tackle, Nate Solder and right tackle Cameron Fleming (who stepped in for Marcus Cannon when he went on IR) against Calais Campbell and Yannick Ngakoue. Look for the Patriots to use extra tight end sets and keep the running backs in the back field on passing downs. These guys get after the QB and no lone lineman has been able to keep these guys off their quarterback.
Jaguars- 24 Patriots- 22
Vikings [-3] (13-3) at Eagles (13-3) 6:40pm <- why? FOX- These are two teams I felt comfortable picking during the preseason. Though! I wouldn't have guessed these teams would be QB'ed by Case Keenum and Nick Foles. If you didn't know, they both ejected out of St. Louis. What is interesting is the Vikings are three point favorites going into Philly but, ESPN's Power Football Index picks the Eagles to win at 59.1%. Hmmm... I think it's interesting that week in and week out everyone continues to put down Keenum. He was the THIRD QB on the roster and has done nothing but sling the rock and win games. He is in a rhythm with this receivers and Pat Shurmur's play calling. Meanwhile, Foles has thrown 5TD as a starter... FOUR of which came against the down and out GMen. When stacked against Falcons, a mid tier defense, he froze up. For the Eagles to compete in this game they will need to put up some points, 15 won't cut it. Especially, because they are playing against a solid Minnesota air attack AND the best defense in the NFL. Philly will have a hard time leaning on Jay Ajayi as well. Why? Last week I watched him not follow his blockers and spill all his inside runs out. Which, the Falcons did a good job of containing and the Vikings will do the same as well. What about LeGarrette Blount? Sure he is a stud on third and short but, is not an every down back. I think we know were this is going...
Vikings-27 Eagles-17
AAaaaand that's the wayyyy the news goes!
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